Lunar Hiltons? Someday, But Not Yet

Along with many other space enthusiasts, we’ve been waiting — forever, it seems — for our opportunity to stay at a hotel on the Moon, whether it’s a Ritz-Carlton, Holiday Inn or Motel 6.

Galaxy Lounge at the Lunar Hilton

How far back does the hope for a place for tourists to stay on Luna go? Back in the late 1960s, the Hilton hotel chain went so far as to develop substantial plans for floating “Orbiter Hiltons” beyond Earth, leading to a “Lunar Hilton” on the Moon itself.

According to a fascinating article by Daniel Oberhaus in TheOutline.com on this subject, the Hilton proposal was one of the first detailed plans for building permanent tourist facilities on the Moon, but it most certainly hasn’t been the last; several other organizations, including Orbital Technologies and Bigelow Aerospace.

Oberhaus details the plans made by Barron Hilton, visionary son of the hotel chain’s founder, which he revealed in a 1967 presentation to the American Astronautical Society on “Outer Space Tourism”:

The crown jewel of the Lunar Hilton would, of course, be its Galaxy Lounge. “If you think we are not going to have a cocktail lounge, you don’t know Hilton — or travelers,” Hilton quipped. In the Galaxy Lounge, lunar tourists would be able to “enjoy a martini and see the stars!”